Read Romans 6
Key Verse 14: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
Observations: There are so many references to this thought that we must choose our master that I had to just pick one. Several times Paul says
- we are to count ourselves dead to sin,
- we must not let sin reign, we are not to offer any part of ourselves to sin,
- the body ruled by sin might be done away with,
- we are no longer slaves to sin,
- don’t you know when you offer yourselves to someone you are their slave,
- we used to be slaves to sin but now we have come to obey God,
- you have been free from sin,
- you used to be under the control of sin…
Paul just keeps repeating the idea that Christ has made us free and now we really have a free choice, we now have the freedom to choose to walk away from sin!
Application: I need to remember this when I am tempted. I am no longer a slave and I can choose to walk away. I like the way Dr. Michael Rydelnik put this on Moody Radio, we have been rebuilt as new creations, we are being transformed and we are no longer the old self enslaved to sin. The problem is that it sometimes takes a bit for us to catch up with what Christ has done in us. So, when we mess up, we need to remind ourselves that it is no longer who I am and I no longer have to be that way or stuck in that sin. I need to live in transformation and remember I now have the freedom to choose. In all of what Paul says here, it seems he is making this plea because we have a choice and now a real choice to live above sin and he (Paul) is telling us to choose freedom and choose to live outside of sin. Make the choice.
Prayer: God, help me to make the choice. I ask that you help me to take off my theological glasses so that I can clearly see the scriptures for what they are. I have to trust that I have been made a new creation. I know I sometimes mess up, but I am no longer that person. I am no longer “always a sinner” just forgiven, I am a new creation free from sin. I now have the freedom not to sin and that is all because of your grace. Your grace is bigger than my sin. Help me to live in grace today. I know that I am still stuck in this world and the temptations of this world will pull on me, but I do not have to live in those sins. I have been freed by your grace, Paul screams, I can now truly choose to walk away from those things. Father, today I want to put more and more of my trust in you and less and less in myself. I want to focus on your grace more than my problems. Give me your grace and your heart within me today so that I might live this day for you! AMEN!
